The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Balcelilae.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Arroyo Grande, Calif. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new cultivars with freely-branching growth habit, numerous large flowers, and attractive flower and foliage colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross made by the Inventor of an unidentified selection of Impatiens hawkeri as the male, or pollen parent, with the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Moorea, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,147 as the female, or seed parent. The cultivar Balcelilae was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Arroyo Grande, Calif. in 1997. Plants of the new Impatiens and the cultivar Moorea differ primarily in flower color.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Arroyo Grande, Calif., has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.